Posted on 02/16/2014 10:23:31 AM PST by EinNYC
Well, one of the 3 CFL bulbs in my kitchen ceiling fan light fixture has now burned out. The 2 still-functioning bulbs are candelabra-base dimmable CFL bulbs with the teardrop at the end. They lasted about a year or two. I am wondering if this burned out bulb is an opportunity for me to finally take the plunge into LED bulbs as a replacement.
What experiences have FReepers had with candelabra-base omnidirectional LED bulbs with a 40W incandescent equivalence, in the 2700-3000K range (so it looks natural and not like the kitchen is under an interrogation light)?
I heartily thank all contributors to my knowledge base in advance!
When I have cfl’s go out on me, I take them back from where they came. Just take ‘me back to Lowes, and drop them off if an out of the way place.
No fuss, no muss......
CFL....bad. LED....good
"Are cool to the touch."
Free Republic strikes again!
I love my LEDs, but they are pricey. CFLs are garbage, especially if your service is susceptible to voltage fluctuations.
I installed LED recessed fixtures last summer in my bedroom, what normally would required 600 watts of incandescent lighting, required 90 watts of LED lamps.
I used Phillips (made in China).
Here’s a link to Sylvania (USA???), make sure to note (very important)whether the lamp you want is dimmable or not, not all CFLs or LED lamps are.
http://assets.sylvania.com/assets/Documents/RETRO046_FINAL.912b7432-c45e-4071-9d4e-2f761d68134e.pdf
Not sure if the Sylvania LEDs are US made or not but as an electrician I wouldn’t install anything except Phillips or Sylvania.
I prefer Sylvania because some people complain they hear buzzing from standard lamps when dimmed - Sylvania tend to run quieter than ALL others, again with incandescent lamps.
I’ve started converting to LEDs and will continue to do so, but I’ve been surprised by color a couple of times.
He might have meant halogens. Too many new products, too fast, makes for confusion.
Does anyone know if I would have to use "only dimmable" LED bulbs in the Hunter ceiling fan, if I could use non-dimmable LED bulbs in the fan, or if LED bulbs would work at all? Thank you!!
I recently bought one of these LED bulbs to use in a hard-to-reach location.
It was expensive ($35 at Lowe's), but I got tired of dragging out the ladder after the last 100w incandescent in that fixture only lasted a few weeks. The LED bulb is rated at 25,000 hours — hopefully true!
The yellow phosphor envelope glows white (3000K) when driven by the blue LEDs inside. 23w, 1600 lumens. It's advertised to be a "100w equivalent", and, subjectively, it appears at least as bright as the incandescent it replaced. Spectrum-wise, it's ever so slightly closer to the blue end than the incandescent.
This lamp only receives intermittent use (it illuminates a stairway). It doesn't need to be on often, but when it does, it needs to reach full brightness without significant delay. It does have a barely noticeable delay (200 ms?) to reach full brightness. But that's way better than CFLs!
I bought a couple of Cree bulbs and will not buy any more of them because of the amount of RF interference that they create.
The Cree bulbs also have some sort of sticky coating on them which, I suspect, will be a dust magnet. They’d be OK in an enclosed fixture, though.
Utilitech bulbs are not perfect, but vastly better for RF interference, and don’t have that sticky coating.
The CFL’s I’ve bought have not lasted any longer than incandescent, so I’ve switched back. I’m sick of those curly-cue ugly things. I pick up the ican’s anywhere and everywhere I can. The day I run out of the regular bulbs, then I’ll start buying the LED’s.
I have a Cree 60-watt equivalent in my pantry, where it doubles as the kitchen night light. LED gives much nicer light than CFL. Still costs more, but prices are going down every year. I will not buy CFL. I’ve got a bunch of incandescent bulbs stockpiled, and by the time they’re gone will use LED.
Seems to me that CFL’s burn out at the same rate, if not faster, than the old traditional bulbs.
I have noticed that LED’s have finally started dropping in price. Costco had three packs of standard bulbs for 19.99.
The question is: Will the quality drop as the price continues to drop or are LED’s easy enough to manufacture that they can’t be screwed up?
You might be a low-information voter if you see CFL and think Canadian Football League. ;-)
I have tried LEDs, but they are expensive and in my experience give a very feeble light. I expect the cost to go down and eventually to match the light output of regular bulbs, but right now I don't find them really useful for most applications.
I have stocked up on incandescent bulbs and keeping buying them when I see them. I hope to have enough stocked up until the LEDs get cheaper or the government gets some sanity about dictating what light bulbs we use.
I like Halogen bulbs, and have several fixtures that use them.
I’d only dim that old nondimmable cfl for a few seconds. Just to freak my friends out, cuz the light from them was truly disgusting, and to implant in them the suspicion that cfos were crap! I was on quite a “crusade” against those awful bulbs!
I have been using Utilitec CFLs from Lowes for sometime now, but they seem to be failing much sooner than claimed. Lately, I have been writing the date on the base of the lamps when I replace them. None have failed since I began this process. I hate them though, but can’t bring myself to invest in LEDs yet.
The EPA (a surrogate of Congress) mandated that we cease using mercury vapor lighting outdoors because the mercury in the lamps posed a hazard to the environment. That same EPA mandated that we use CFLs (contain mercury) indoors and put a sunset on the availability of Thomas Alva Edison’s incandescent lamps. The EPA moved the mercury from outdoors to indoors. Now it would seem to me that everyone that is waiting on Congress to solve the real problems facing our nation should be able to meet in a phone booth, but, alas, there are untold millions of them. They all voted for Obama twice.
I only buy the 50,000 hour incandecent bulbs that you buy online.
I’ve never had one burn out yet, been using them for years.
We can’t tell that CFLs in our house last any longer than incandescents. We have had two of them burst into flames and fill the house with lung-searing gases that forced us out until the house aired out. We now keep fire extinguishers in almost every room.
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